Hot shots

The I-Ball can be hurled into hostile areas, enabling troops to view the inside of buildings, cellars and dangerous environments before physically entering them. It can also be launched from a grenade launcher into danger spots and provides 360 degree images to troops – even when it is in flight. The orb is the brainchild of Dreampact Ltd and consists of embedded image sensors and two fish eye lenses that can send back real time data. The data is remapped through an fpga and can then be viewed on a handheld device carried by soldiers. The I-Ball is the result of an ideas competition held by the Centre for Defence Enterprise in 2007. Still in the early stages of development, Dreampact’s Paul Thompson told New Electronics: “We’re looking for financial means of getting it into service and taking it from being a prototype into a rugged military solution.” The MOD’s director of technology development, Prof Andrew Baird, added: “The technology behind I-Ball is an exciting new development that has very significant potential across a range of military equipment and operational scenarios – particularly in difficult urban operations.”